(3 of )Warren and Barbara Winiarski are the recipients of Land Trust of Napa County's 2017 Acre by Acre Award. The Acre by Acre award honors individuals whose conservation accomplishments embody the Land Trust's mission to preserve the character of Napa by permanently protecting land.

North Bay business briefs: Oct. 2, 2017

The School of Business and Economics at Sonoma State University announced that new research by Dr. Astha Sen, assistant professor of Economics, will be published in Public Finance Review, a professional journal of economic research, theory, and policy applications for the public sector economy.

The school’s announcement stated that in the study, “Tax Incidence: Do Institutions Matter? An Experimental Study,” Professor Sen uses data from laboratory experiments to examine the impact of market institutions, which characterize real-world markets such as stock markets, online vendors, and large retailers, on the tax burden of goods and services.

The Nutrition & Foodservice Professional Training Program for dietary managers at Santa Rosa Junior College has been granted full approval to be offered through 2022 by the Association of Nutrition & Foodservice Professionals. The program is under Jill Harrison, Nutrition and Dietetic Technology instructor and Dietary Service Supervisor Program Coordinator.

There are 20 students currently enrolled in the program, and approximately 50 more have successfully completed it in the past five years. Graduates have moved on to work as dietary managers in senior communities, school food service operations, and hospitals across the Bay Area.

The program includes both classroom instruction and clinical rotations through local food service establishments. The Dietary Service Supervisor certificate is the minimal requirement of the California Department of Public Health for managing the food service department in a health care facility.

HEALTHCARE

Adventist Health Ukiah Valley, formerly Ukiah Valley Medical Center, has raised more than $15,000 for cancer support programs through the third annual Colors for Cancer Fun Run and Walk. Funds will support the Focus on Healing Program. The Focus on Healing Program is designed to benefit patients and their families affected by cancer who live in the communities AHUV serves. The program reaches beyond medical treatment to incorporate elements that foster physical and mental well-being.

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NorthBay Trauma Center has earned a three-year verification from the American College of Surgeons, the longest possible, during a recent assessment the center reported that at the conclusion of a two-day review earlier this year, ACS surveyors found no deficiencies in the Fairfield-based Level II trauma center, the center reported.

“The hospital functions as an essential component of the Solano County emergency response system at multiple levels,” evaluators wrote in their report, adding that NorthBay Medical Center works effectively with UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital and nearby academic hospitals’ trauma units to provide more advanced care that creates “a novel solution to a community need.”

NorthBay Medical Center became the first hospital in Solano County to become a Level III Trauma Center in 2012. In 2014, After NorthBay Medical Center added 24-hour coverage with neurosurgeons, plastic surgeons and oral maxillofacial surgeons, the American College of Surgeons verified it as the first hospital in Solano county to earn a Level II Trauma Center designation.

NONPROFITS

Homeward Bound of Marin has been awarded a grant in the amount of $30,000 from the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco’s Access to Housing and Economic Assistance for Development program. Bank of Marin, a member of FHLBSF, submitted the application on behalf of the organization.

According to the announcement, Homeward Bound will direct the funding toward social enterprise and nonprofit job training through its Wagster Treats products, all-natural dog treats baked in the kitchens of Homeward Bound by graduates of their Fresh Starts Culinary Academy. One hundred percent of the proceeds from Wagster Treats support nonprofit job training programs.

Lifehouse, a Marin County-based nonprofit organization dedicated to providing support services to individuals with developmental disabilities, has received a $90,000 grant from Peninsula Outreach Programs.

The funds will enable the organization to provide cutting-edge technology to help people with developmental disabilities live as independently as possible.

Lifehouse’s technological tools for expanding public knowledge about developmental disabilities includes a Virtual Reality (VR) device - the Oculus Rift - enabling the user to immerse themselves in a virtual world for 60 seconds to experience a virtual world through the eyes of someone living with autism, promoting empathy and understanding of what the people they support might be seeing, hearing, thinking or feeling.

The agency’s technology center has also invested in Liftware Level and Liftware Steady, two spoons, with built-in processors. Liftware Level keeps the spoon leveled at all times, even if the user is twisting and moving the handle. This helps individuals with cerebral palsy, spinal cord injury, Huntington’s disease, post-stroke deficits, and others with limited range of motion or control, feed themselves.

WINE

The Wine Institute, the main trade group for California vintners, recently released the results of an online survey of 2,000 visitors to wine regions within the Golden State.

Overall, the typical visitor is 44 years old and likely female, as women accounted for 54 percent of the respondents. Baby boomers accounted for 40 percent, Gen Xers 22 percent and millennials 36 percent of the visitors.

The majority of visitors are married (68 percent) and split evenly between residing in an urban (46 percent) or suburban (44 percent) area. They also are well-educated and have higher incomes compared to the national average leisure traveler, according to the survey.

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Vintage 99 Label of Santa Rosa has received an award for outstanding achievement in label design at the annual 2017 Showcase Awards. The Showcase Awards is a visual media competition covering Northern California and Northern Nevada, hosted by the Visual Media Alliance in San Francisco.